Colorado
by xXxStarGazerxXx
Summary: Agent Lisbon decides she needs some time off, so she heads out to Colorado to stay with a friend for a week. Her relaxing trip takes a turn when a murder takes place on the mountain, and she is reunited with someone she thought was gone from her life for good. Post-Red John. Jane/Lisbon.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my second story I have written for this website. I will be posting chapters as I write them, so not very often. My primary story right now is "Love is Strange", and it will be my priority until I have it all written. I just couldn't get this story out of my head. **

**This is a post Red John fic. I hope it's alright. It's not going to be very long. **

**I hope you like it!**

**I own nothing.**

Lisbon looked at her map of the trail. It was six-thirty in the morning. The cool, crisp air of the Colorado Rocky Mountains was refreshing.

A week ago, Lisbon decided she needed some time off. Her friend Amy had a cabin near Aspen, and she let Lisbon stay with her from time to time.

She loved visiting the Colorado. It was such a change of scenery from California. Sure, there were mountains there too, but not nearly as many.

Over the past few days she had taken some shorter trails to get used to the elevation. Now she was going to do the Lost Man Trail. It's a long one; it takes over six hours to complete, but she'd done it before. She checked her bag to make sure she had her walkie talkie (Amy had the other one, in case of an emergency), water, lunch, and her camera. She also checked her gun to make sure it was fully loaded. Wouldn't want to come across a bear unarmed.

She had only gotten as far as Lost Man Reservoir when she felt that something was not right. It was eerily quiet. The only sound she heard was the sound of the water and the kaws of crows. Lisbon put her hand on the holster of her gun. It was times like this when she was really glad she was a cop.

She saw movement through the trees. Crows. Lisbon decided it was worth checking out. It was probably some sort of dead animal.

Lisbon's blood ran cold. A baseball cap was lying close to the murder of crows. She ran forward, shooing the birds away.

It was a man.

Lisbon looked away. The man was in bad shape. The crows had picked at his skin, particularly around the eyes. It was kind of gruesome.

She saw another flock about 10 yards away. A bright yellow was visible beneath them and she knew it was another person. She walked over to the body and the crows scattered. This man was younger than the other. He was lying on his stomach with his head turned to the side. There was a bullet hole in his back.

Lisbon walked back to the trail and pulled out her walkie talkie. She pushed the call button and waited.

"_Hey, Teresa. Are you ok?"_ Amy's voice sounded from the speaker 10 seconds or so later.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I found two dead bodies out here."

"_Like, _people_?"_ Amy gasped.

"Yep. I need you to call the police. I'm on the Lost Man Trail right before the Lost Man Reservoir. I got two dead males, one looks like he's in his forties and the other in his late twenties. Tell them my name too. I'm staying here until they get here. I will need to give a statement."

"_Should I tell them that you are a California state agent?"_

"No. I don't want to get involved. I came out here to get away from murder. It's just my luck I walk right into one."

"_All right. I'm calling them now. I will let you know what they say."_

"Thanks Amy. "

-SG-

Amy radioed Lisbon about ten minutes later and told her the police were on their way. Lisbon found a nice rock to sit down on to wait. She wanted to talk to Amy, but her friend managed a store in town, so she couldn't just stop working to talk to Lisbon for the time it took the police to arrive at the scene. So for now, Lisbon was alone among the dead. Great.

-SG-

Lisbon and just finished eating one of her granola bars when she heard people approaching. She looked over her shoulder to see about five people walking up over the hill. The first three were uniformed police officers, two men and a woman, the other two must have been coroners or paramedics. They had the jackets.

The first officer walked up to her and extended his hand. He was an older man with white hair, dark eyebrows and a bit of weight around the middle. He looked fairly out of breath.

"I'm Officer Brady. You Teresa Lisbon?"

"Yes, sir," replied Lisbon as she shook the man's hand.

Officer Brady turned and motioned to the other two officers. "These are Officers Egan and Anderson," he said as he pointed to each in turn.

Egan was young. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. He had a long face and short blonde hair. When he leaned forward to shake her hand, Lisbon noticed a long scar across his left cheek. Other than that, the man was fairly handsome.

Anderson looked to be only a little younger then Lisbon herself. She was, however, several inches taller, and she had blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. Anderson smiled warmly at Lisbon as she shook her hand.

"So where are these bodies?" Brady asked.

Lisbon walked a few steps off the trail and motioned over to where the bodies lay in the grass. Brady, Egan, and the other two walked over to take a look. Anderson stayed with Lisbon.

"I'm gonna need you to make a statement," she told Lisbon.

"Of course. Anything you need."

"Can you explain how you came across the bodies?"

Lisbon told the short story as Anderson scribbled on her notepad. She just finished when Brady joined them once more.

"You got a permit for that gun?" he asked, pointing at the weapon at her hip.

"Oh, yeah." Lisbon walked over to her bag and pulled out her wallet. He gave the officer both the permit and her driver's license.

After inspecting them, Brady returned them to her.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we are going to have to look at your gun."

Lisbon looked confused, so Brady contained. "Both of these men were killed from gunshot wounds."

"Wait," Lisbon held her hand out in front of her as if she was telling a dog to stay, "you don't actually think I did this, do you?"

Anderson was the one to answer her. "No, but you were found at the crime scene with a gun. You have to understand we have to be a little bit suspicious."

Lisbon nodded and handed her gun over to Brady.

"Is there anything else you need me for?" She asked Brady.

"Oh, none of us are going anywhere."

"Blondie coming?" Anderson asked.

"Are you kidding? I don't think he's seen a murder since he got here form God knows where. I think he's been bored." Egan and Anderson smiled as Brady spoke.

"Aww, poor baby. It's his fault he moved here instead of, oh, I don't know, Detroit." Anderson said.

Lisbon was defiantly missing something. "Um, excuse me, but what's going on?"

Anderson shook her head apologetically. "There's this guy who lived here in Aspen, he's a consultant. Really good at figuring this kind of stuff out. He's a detective of sorts I guess. He helps out all the jurisdictions in the area."

"He's a real pain in the ass if you ask me. Not worth the time," Egan said, "Why don't we clean up and head back to the station. He can meet us there."

Brady shook his head. "No. We wait here. Blondie will want to see the crime scene."

"So this guy finds your daughter and now you're just going to so whatever he says, is that it?" Egan snapped.

"Let's give them some space, this could go on for a while," Anderson whispered in Lisbon's ear. She led her away to a spot overlooking the lake and they sat down on a fallen tree.

Lisbon looked at her companion, "So, Anderson-"

"Call me Stacy."

Lisbon smiled. "Stacy then, what exactly is the story here?"

Anderson sighed. "About eight months ago, Brady's daughter went missing. The town went crazy. We were pretty sure she'd been kidnapped, but there were no solid leads. The husband was breathing down are necks. We had no idea what to do."

"Then this blonde, snarky, son-of-a-bitch waltzes in and tells us he could help us find her. He was a real pain to work with, but he came up with several leads and about two days later we found her. Blondie decided to stay here in Aspen. He said he liked it here."

"What's Egan's problem with him?"

Anderson shook her head. "Egan is young and arrogant. He wants to be the smartest man in the room, and he's not when Blondie is here. Blondie sees things Egan doesn't. With Brady's case, Egan was so sure about this one lead, but Blondie kept saying he was wrong. Egan refused to listen. He followed it but the lead got them nowhere. When Egan finally listened to Blondie, they found Sarah within a few hours. Egan was humiliated."

Lisbon smiled. "So where is the master detective from?"

Anderson shook her head. "No one knows. He's not exactly an open person. We aren't even sure if the name he gave us is his real name."

"You employ someone without doing a background check?"

Anderson just shrugged. "You know, when you save the life of the chief's daughter, in a small town that can be enough. The other jurisdictions trust him because we do. And he's really been a big help."

"You do realize this small town has multi-million dollar homes owned by people worth millions of dollars living in them?" Lisbon asked.

"This is a good community, Teresa. Millionaires and all."

-SG-

Anderson and Lisbon sat and talked for another half an hour waiting for Blondie to get there. Apparently he had been in Glenwood Springs helping the police with a case. Brady told Lisbon and Anderson earlier that he sounded excited on the phone when they told him about the murders. Lisbon wished she could share the unknown man's excitement. Why did _she_ have to get caught up in all of this?

Anderson asked Lisbon where she was from. Lisbon told her about Sacramento and the surrounding areas. Anderson told her that she had never been outside of Colorado. Lisbon didn't think that was such a bad thing. Colorado was gorgeous, if a bit cold at times.

"Seriously, if I didn't love my job so much, I would seriously consider moving out here," said Lisbon, looking out over the reservoir.

"What do you do?"

Lisbon started to answer but was cut off by Brady's call.

"Hey, Anderson! Blondie's here! Come on!"

Anderson stood and looked at Lisbon. "You can stay here if you want, just don't run away on us, we haven't excluded you yet." With that, she turned and headed through the trees.

Lisbon sat and listened to the voices for a while before deciding to walk over there herself. She may be off duty, but the cop in her wanted to know what was going on. Besides, she wanted to see this Blondie fellow.

As she got closer to the scene, she saw him. He was squatting down next to the younger man who had been lying on his stomach. His back was to her.

The man was wearing a light gray suit. His shoes were light brown and scuffed. His hair was blonde. Curly.

No.

It couldn't be.

No way.

Lisbon stopped and stared at the back of the man as Brady spoke to him.

"This is Michael Lawson, killed by a gunshot wound to the back. He's not a local like Mitchell is. That's what I don't understand. Why did two completely unrelated people end up dead?"

"I guess that's what we are going to find out, isn't it?" The blonde man said as he stood, his back still facing Lisbon. "Do you know what this man does for a living?"

Brady shook his head. "I assume you are going to tell me."

The blonde man smirked. "Well if you really have no idea…" he turned to face Brady and froze, mouth still open as if he was going to say something.

Lisbon froze at the exact same moment. _No no no, this was is possible_, she thought. How could _he_ be _here_?

The man turned his head slowly towards her. Their eyes met; his eyes were bright blue. There was no mistake.

It was _him_.

He was _here_.

_Jane_.

-SG-SG-

**Was that ok? Maybe? Anyone interested? **

**Thank you so much for giving it a shot, you are a wonderful person.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, when I posted the first chapter of Colorado, I had no idea it would get the response it did. Thank you so much for that!**

**It did cause me a lot of stress though. I felt like I had to get started on this chapter, and I had no idea how to do it. I had huge writers block. **

**Now, here it is. After countless games of Minesweeper played (and about 15 of those won) trying to figure out where the heck to go with this fic, I finally got chapter two written.**

**There were three different directions I was thinking of taking this. I went with the lightest one. I hope it turned out alright and that it lives up to you all's expectations. It was extremely difficult to write.**

**I do want to say that I am disregarding the season 4 finale. As much as I loved that episode, and trust me, I LOVED it, it would have been really difficult to include.**

**Well, here it is! Enjoy!**

**I own nothing.**

Jane could not believe his eyes. Lisbon, Senior Special Agent Teresa Lisbon, was standing no more than 20 feet away from him clad in hiking gear.

What the hell was she doing here? Was it just a crazy coincidence or did she know he was here? It didn't look like she did. In fact, she looked just as shocked to see him as he felt seeing her.

It'd been over a year since Red John was killed. Over a year since he walked out on her and the team. 13 months. Roughly 400 days.

-SG-

"_Jane… Jane, talk to me!" Lisbon's voice sounded distant as Jane stared down at the body of his enemy. Red John. The man who killed his family. The man whom he swore to kill. Dead. _

_But it hadn't been him. Patrick Jane failed. He failed to get his revenge. _

_Jane had set it up perfectly. He would be alone. He would have a gun (Jane had long abandoned his plan to cut the bastard up. Too much room for error)._

_But he underestimated Lisbon, as he always had. She had noticed something was up with him. He seemed distant. Withdrawn. When he told them he was going to take the rest of the day off, she planted a small tracker in his jacket when he wasn't looking so she could follow him. _

_She was there, watching from a distance when Jane went to face Red John. Not long after, Cho and Rigsby pulled up as well. Cho set up a sniper rifle while Lisbon made her way down to where Jane and Red John stood._

_It was over in under a minute after Lisbon reached her destination. Jane stood with a gun in his shaking hand aimed at Red John. Lisbon's arrival distracted him. The second Red John reached for the gun and fired it at Lisbon, but not before Cho got off his shot. The bullet from Red John's gun went wide, barely grazing her shoulder. _

_Jane had no idea what to say. He didn't know what to feel. He failed. He failed them. His family. He swore to them he would get revenge and he didn't. And it was Lisbon's fault. Cho may have been the one who took the shot, but Lisbon planned the whole thing. She took Red John from him. He knew her intentions were good. He knew she hadn't done it to hurt him. But it did. It hurt badly._

_And to make things worse, she could have gotten herself killed. If Cho hadn't been ready, that bullet would have gone straight through her. _She could have DIED_. Jane didn't even want to think about it. She shouldn't have risked her life like that, not for this._

_He was so angry. He was angry with Cho. He was angry with Lisbon. He was angry with himself. _

_So he left. He disappeared. He got rid of his phone. He cancelled his motel room. He left no notes. No explanations on where he was going, he didn't know himself. All he knew was he needed to leave, and leave he did._

_-SG-_

Jane vaguely heard Brady introducing him to her. Apparently she was the one who found the bodies.

He didn't know what he felt. More importantly, he didn't know what _she_ was feeling. She should hate him. He had left her. He had left her without a word out of anger.

Jane studied her face. She didn't look angry. He certainly wasn't still mad at her. But for once, he couldn't read her, not anything past pure shock at least.

She looked the same, a little older, maybe. She'd defiantly lost some weight (which was saying something, she had always been so thin). But her eyes, her eyes were exactly how he remembered them. He didn't want to stop looking at them.

"Blondie, huh?" Jane snapped out of his daze when she spoke. It took a second before he remembered his nickname. Brady probably introduced him as such. She looked amused. Relief filled his heart. Maybe she didn't hate him.

"What? You don't think it fits?" He joked, not taking his eyes off of hers.

"I never said it didn't," she smiled, "but it's not exactly a name."

The corners of his mouth twitched. "Patrick then," he said.

A few more seconds passed when Anderson cleared her throat. Finally, he tore is eyes away from Lisbon's. He looked back at the corpse he was standing alongside of. "So Teresa, you're a cop, where do you think this guy worked? Who is he?"

-SG-

"Wait, you're a cop?" Lisbon looked back at Egan as he said this.

Jane looked taken aback. "You didn't know?"

"She hasn't said anything."

Lisbon saw Jane smile and shake his head. "Huh. Well she didn't need to, anyway."

"Well, how do _you_ know she's a cop?" asked Brady, as if Lisbon wasn't standing right there.

Jane made eye contact with her once more. She wished she could read him better. He seemed to be weighing what and how much to tell Brady. There was so much to tell. It was obvious the officers knew little to nothing about who he really was. He certainly hadn't mentioned _her_. They would have recognized her name. What would he tell them now?

In the end, he settled on not telling them anything.

Instead, he pulled his mentalist act.

"Well, it's kind of obvious," said Jane, turning back to Brady. "I mean, look at her, her whole demeanor just screams cop. Look how calm she is around two dead bodies. Most people would want to get as far away as possible, but not Teresa. She didn't even wince. She's more comfortable than you are Egan." He looked back at Lisbon. "You're obviously used to seeing dead bodies. You came to a place like this for vacation, so I'd guess you investigate homicides in either New York or California."

Lisbon started to respond but he stopped her. "Hold on, I got this." Patrick turned and walked over to her bag. He opened the second pouch on the front and pulled out her badge and wallet. Lisbon looked at the floor and shook her head. Of course he found her badge on the first try. He only had a one and fifteen chance. Figures.

"Voilà!" He said as he waved her badge in the air. Jane opened her wallet and pulled out her CBI ID and her driver's license. He read, "Senior Special Agent Teresa Lisbon. California Bureau of Investigation."

Jane continued to examine the card as Brady spoke to Lisbon. "Is there any particular reason you didn't tell us you're a cop?"

Lisbon shook her head. "Sir, I came here to get away from murder. I just didn't want to get involved." She looked back at Jane, who was now examining a photograph she kept in her wallet behind her driver's license with a blank expression on his face. _Oh no_.

Quickly, she ran over to him and grabbed her wallet, badge, and the photo from his hands. She didn't make eye contact with him as she stowed it all away in her pack. She could feel him watching her.

"Anyway, Blondie, what do you think this guy did?" Lisbon said a silent thanks to Anderson for directing Jane's attention elsewhere. She heard Jane sigh and walk back over to the body.

"He's a lawyer. A very good one. The quality of his clothing, his perfectly manicured nails, he just had the whole lawyer vibe to him."

"That's it? A vibe?" Egan sneered. "You've got to be kidding me!"

Jane smiled briefly. "Well, that and the fact that I passed a whole group of them on my way up here. If you had been looking you would have noticed them as well." He winked at Lisbon at the last part. She smiled. She couldn't help it.

Egan looked indignant. "Ok, you saw the crime scene; can we go back to the station now? The bodies need to be moved to the morgue."

Jane waved a hand at him, "Yeah, yeah. Go ahead. Ah, Brady, would you come with me to talk to the lawyers?"

"What, you can't talk to them yourself? You go out on your own all the time," Brady said.

"Lawyers like to punch me in the nose. I have no idea why, but they do."

Lisbon snorted. Jane turned to look at her. "Something to say, Teresa?"

Lisbon just shook her head.

Jane looked over at Anderson. "Can you bring her down to the station, Anderson?" he asked, motioning to Lisbon. "I'm still not sure where she fits into all of this."

Lisbon's mouth fell open. "Excuse me?"

Jane shrugged. "You turned up at a crime scene with a gun, we can't just brush that aside."

"You have got to be kidding me."

Jane said nothing. He just stood there staring at her. She searched his eyes, trying to figure out his game. She was surprised at what she saw. He was pleading.

Lisbon sighed. "Fine, I'll go with you to the station," she told Anderson.

"Ok, then. Let's start back," said Anderson. She motioned for Lisbon to follow her. Lisbon walked over to her back and picked it up. Before following Anderson back along the trail, she turned to meet Jane's eyes once more. She gave him a look that she hoped told him that he had some serious explaining to do. He nodded once, and Lisbon turned back around to follow Anderson.

-SG-

A thousand thoughts ran through Lisbon's head as she made her way back down the trail with Anderson. What the hell was Jane doing here? In Colorado of all places? How did he get here?

Memories of the last year came flooding back. She remembered his face the last time she saw him. His expression was blank but his eyes told her he was livid. She remembered how he got into his car the second after he finished his statement and drove away. She hadn't seen him since.

She thought he just needed some time, but after one month she had had enough. She tried to call him, but he had switched phones. She looked for him at his motel but he had cleared out. She drove down to Malibu to check on his house but there was no sign of him. She even had Van Pelt look into his financials on the sly. There were several transactions made in California, but most of them were from out of state.

Jane had left them. Left her. Seemingly for good. The realization hit her hard. She didn't want to believe it. Over the years she had gotten close to him, extremely close. He was her best friend. He knew her better than anyone. She talked to him about everything. He knew her frustrations and her fears. And she knew his. Losing him hurt. _Badly_.

As hard as she tried to forget him, to move on, she couldn't. She kept catching herself glancing at his couch. She couldn't bring herself to move it. She also left his favorite tea cup in the cupboard. The attic went untouched.

She threw herself into her work. She didn't go home much; it wasn't like she'd be able to sleep. She also started eating a lot less (it later dawned on her that Jane had taken upon himself to make sure she ate. Now that he was gone, there was no one to do that). Her behavior earned her a lot of concerned looks from Cho. He tried to get her to talk about it several times, but was shot down.

A part of her was angry (how dare he just leave like that!). But mostly she was sad. She was sad that she would probably never see him again. She did always had some small hope that he'd show up randomly on his couch in the bullpen one day, but…

This Lisbon hadn't expected. It took her by surprise. She was still trying to figure out what to think, what to say to him when she got him alone. Part of her wanted to scream at him. The other wanted to hug him and never let go.

She had missed him so much.

The picture Jane found in her wallet was one of her favorites. It was a picture of the two of them at the last CBI Fundraiser they both attended. Lisbon had been wearing a deep purple dress with one strap over her left shoulder. Jane was in a tux. She was laughing, probably at something he said. Jane was smiling at her. She missed his smile.

Lisbon's thoughts were interrupted when her foot caught on a root sticking out from the dirt. Anderson grabbed her arm to steady her. "Thanks."

Anderson smiled. "No problem."

Suddenly, Lisbon was very curious about what her new acquaintance thought of Jane.

"So, what's Patrick like?" she asked, trying to make it sound as natural as possible.

Anderson laughed. "Taken an interest in him, have we?" She winked.

Lisbon's eyes widened. "What? No! I just… He seems like an interesting person so I thought I'd..."

"Teresa, it's fine. I'm just messing with you. He's quite the handsome man."

Lisbon blushed and looked down at the trail in front of them.

"But to answer your question, Blondie is… complicated."

"How so?"

"Well… When he first got here he was kind of cold. He didn't really talk to anyone unless he had to. He spent a lot of time on the couch in the bullpen, still does for that matter. But you could tell he really did want to help.

"After about 3 cases solved in two days or less, Brady started to trust him more. Blondie started to be more active in the cases, but he still hasn't quite opened up to anyone. Not even me, and he talks to me more than anyone else."

Anderson paused, seemingly deep in thought, before speaking again. "We don't really know about his past. We assume he's done some work in law enforcement, he knows the rules, even if he consistently breaks them. He seems to really like this work too.

Another pause. "He doesn't smile much. The time I saw him smile most was when the team went out for ice cream after a case and he went to do magic tricks for some kids in the square… He loves kids. It makes me wonder if he's ever had any.

Lisbon smiled sadly. She knew he had.

Anderson looked over at her. "I think he likes you."

This assessment took Lisbon completely by surprise. "What? What makes you say that?"

"Like I said, Blondie doesn't smile much, but he sure did smile a lot just now."

Lisbon shook her head. "Are you sure it wasn't because he gets to investigate a murder? Brady said he was pretty excited about that."

"Brady exaggerates. I don't think anyone could be excited about murder, do you?"

"No, I guess not."

"Not to mention the way he stared at you."

Lisbon smiled at the ground. For some reason the thought that he smiled more because of her made her extremely happy.

Her expression did not go unnoticed by Anderson. "Did you like him?"

Lisbon tried to answer. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish but no words came out.

"It's alright. All the single women in town have a thing for him. A man that good looking can't walk into a town without getting his fair share of admirers. Especially if he doesn't have a ring on his finger."

Lisbon's mouth fell open. "Wait, _WHAT_?"

"Teresa, come on, you cannot tell me that one of the first things you did when you saw him was not check for a ring."

Lisbon shook her head. As a matter of fact, she hadn't checked his left hand. Why would she? Jane would never take that ring off, right? It was one of those things she _knew_. But apparently, she was wrong.

"He's been married before, though," Anderson continued, "when he got here, there was a glaring tan line on his ring finger. I asked it about it once. All he told me was that he lost her. I assume that means she died, but I wasn't going to press him. I'm sure it's the last thing he would want… Teresa, are you ok?"  
Lisbon was in a daze. Jane had taken his ring off. He was trying to move on. Apparently he was trying to move on here. She supposed _that's_ why he didn't come back. He wanted to start a new life, away from everything. A fresh start.

Lisbon knew she should have felt happy for him. She really should have. But she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Towards the end she had started to hope that maybe Jane would stay at the CBI.

But apparently, that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted to be here.

So why hadn't he told them everything? Why hadn't he told them his name? That part didn't make sense.

"Teresa?"

Lisbon shook herself. "Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine. It's just the altitude."

Anderson seemed to find this an acceptable excuse. "Yeah, altitude sickness can get you pretty fast up here."

Neither of them spoke for the rest of the hike back.

**Well, there you have it! I hope it was ok!**

**It's been a rough summer to be a Coloradan, I'll tell you that much. I took a drive through Mountain Shadows, the neighborhood that got the worst of the Waldo Canyon Fire, the other day and it was extremely powerful. So many houses were destroyed. My thoughts and prayers go out to them as well as the victims and their families in Aurora. **

**Anyways, Thank you so much for reading! You have no idea how nervous I am about this chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all so much for showing so much interest in this story! I think I'm going to be alternating posting chapters of this and Love is Strange. **

**This chapter features a slightly different point of view: Anderson's. She will be featured in upcoming chapters as well. **

**I really wanted to have an on the outside narrator. Anderson fit the bill quite nicely. **

**I own nothing.**

Jane couldn't focus all throughout the interviews with the lawyers. His mind kept drifting back to Lisbon. Normally he didn't believe in coincidences of the kind, but he also didn't believe so much in fate either. He didn't know what to think of the current situation.

Jane knew Lisbon didn't kill the two men. He knew that if he had cleared her on the spot, Brady would have let her go; the man trusted his judgment. But when everyone was getting ready to head out, he realized he wasn't ready to see the back of her. They needed to talk, or at least, he needed to talk to her. Alone.

But what was he going to say? How on earth was he going to be able to explain himself? He remembered promising her that she could trust him. He told her he'd always be there for her. To save her. He broke so many of his promises by leaving, but at the time he had felt like he was keeping them. He was trying to save her from himself. How could he even start to explain that to her?

"Thank you for your time." Patrick snapped back to reality when he heard Brady wrap up the last interview. "What do you think, Blondie?"

Jane shook his head. He hadn't seen anyone who stood out, but he also hadn't been paying complete attention either. "I don't think it was any of them, but lawyers can be some of the best liars. I'd look into all of them."

Brady nodded. "Well then, we'd better head back."

-SG-

Jane was extremely annoyed when he could not find his tea cup. He thought that by now everyone knew better than to hide it, or worse, use it. The aqua colored cup and saucer was the only thing he had brought with him from the headquarters at the CBI. It was special. He wasn't about to let anyone else use it.

"Hey Egan, did you take my tea cup?"

"Why do you assume _I_ took it?"

"Because you don't like me."

"Maybe you just _misplaced_ it." Egan's words were condescending. Still, Jane didn't really think Egan had the nerve to steal it again, after what Jane had done to him last time.

Jane decided to check the back room where he kept his couch. Maybe he had left it there. He didn't think he did, in fact he swore he had washed the cup and put it back in the cupboard before he left for Glenwood Springs three days ago, but it was worth looking.

He found it.

-SG-

When Lisbon had arrived at the station with Anderson, the first thing the on-duty cop asked her was if she wanted anything to drink. "Tea," she had said without thinking. Lisbon hadn't been a huge fan of tea before Jane left, but she began drinking more and more of it in the year following his departure.

Anderson led her over to the break room. "Tea is in the box, cups are in the cupboard. You can make yourself comfortable in the back room around the corner but try to stay off the couch. Sorry, I have a little bit of work to do."

"That's no problem. Thank you." Lisbon smiled back at her.

"Just don't leave until the others get back, ok?"

Lisbon nodded and Anderson walked back out of the break room. She got the water boiling and browsed the tea for something she liked. She noticed Jane's favorites were all there.

After picking a tea bag, she opened up the cupboard to find a cup and she saw it. Jane's tea cup. The one he had always used in California. She pulled it out and examined it, smiling softly at the memories it brought back.

The kettle whistled. Lisbon decided she would be using Jane's tea cup. She made her tea and headed into the back room Anderson had indicated before. The couch looked really comfortable. The only reason she could think of to stay off the couch was that it's Jane's couch. Jane was very possessive of his couch back in California, so it would make sense that he was the same with this one. Since she was already using his tea cup, she thought, _screw it_, and sat down on the center cushion.

She was right, the couch was comfortable. She could hardly believe Jane would settle for anything less.

Twenty minutes later when she was almost done with her tea, a voice came from the door.

"What are you doing?"

-SG-

Anderson rounded the corner to see Jane standing in the doorway of the back room. She stopped and slipped into the break room.

Blondie was talking. "You do realize you are drinking my tea, from my tea cup, sitting on my couch, right?"

Shoot! Anderson had warned Teresa about the couch, but she totally forgot about the tea cup. Blondie was very possessive when it came to those two items. They were his after all. He brought the cup from where ever it was he came from and he bought the couch about a week after he settled in town. Now, 95% of the time if he wasn't out in the field or in an interrogation room or in the break room making tea, he was lying on the couch.

At first, Anderson thought he was sleeping, but it became apparent after a few weeks that that was not the case. After a lot of poking and prodding, Anderson had finally gotten him to admit that he didn't sleep well.

He did a lot of thinking on that couch. She couldn't count the number of times he had gotten up suddenly from his apparent slumber with a "brilliant plan" to catch the criminal. And they always worked too.

Anderson had really grown to like the consultant. She trusted him. She'd like to think that he trusted her too, but she knew that wasn't the case. Not with everything at least.

It took her a while to get him to give her a name. He told her his name was "Rick". That didn't really help her because it meant his name was either Richard or Patrick or actually Rick. He looked like a Patrick but she hadn't been sure. She tried checking his wallet once when she actually thought he was asleep, but of course, he wasn't. She decided she would continue to call him Blondie until she knew for sure.

Anderson wanted to know him. She wanted to know who he was and where he came from. She tried being friendly with him. She took him out to lunch sometimes and she invited him over to her house to have Thanksgiving dinner with her and her husband, but all she could get him to talk about were superficial or worldly things. She knew his favorite type of tea, his favorite type of music, and his opinion on the upcoming election, but she still had no idea who he was as a person.

The only clues she had was the obvious tan line on his left ring finger when he first got to town and a picture she'd talked him into showing her. She'd caught him looking at it several times. It was a picture of a younger version of himself with a tall blonde woman holding a little girl of about 3 in her arms. It was an old picture, maybe almost 10 years old. Anderson asked him what happened to them. All he told her was that he lost them.

What bothered her most about that exchange wasn't that Blondie didn't tell her what had happened to his family; it was that he hadn't shown her the correct picture; the picture he had been looking at consistently couldn't have been more than 5 years old. It was obvious to her it took a lot of trust for him to show her the old picture, and she was touched by the gesture, but she still couldn't help feeling disappointed that he didn't trust him enough to show her the newer one.

The trust that Blondie did have in her was hard earned. It took a while to get. That was why she was so taken aback when Blondie had told Teresa his name without so much as flinching. Somehow that woman had gained his trust in record speed. What was even more surprising was that he really seemed to like her. He teased her and joked with her in a way he hadn't done with any other women, and he certainly had enough of them throwing themselves at him. And who could blame them, the man was gorgeous.

Anderson was almost certain that Blondie had ulterior motives bringing Teresa here. She didn't think the man actually thought the California cop had anything to do with the murders, but Anderson went along with it, hoping she'd get to see into his person more.

This was why she was hiding in the break room, eavesdropping.

"Yep." Teresa's voice was quieter than Blondie's, as she was further away.

_Yep_. When Blondie asked Teresa if she knew what she was doing, her answer was "yep". _What_?

Anderson heard Blondie laugh slightly.

"Why am I here, Patrick?" Teresa's voice was serious now.

"That's a good question. Why are you here?"

"You know what I mean. Don't be a smartass."

Blondie took a deep breath in and out. "Listen, Lisbon, I-"

"Blondie! Could you come here for a second!" Brady called from the bullpen.

"I'll talk to you later."

Anderson heard footsteps coming towards the break room. The fastest way to the bullpen was through there after all. She panicked a little, rushing over to the fridge and opening it, trying to hide her face. She knew if he saw it he would know she had been listening.

It seemed to work. Blondie didn't stop. Anderson let out the breath she was holding.

If she didn't know any better, she'd think Blondie and Teresa knew each other. But up on the mountain they hadn't given any notion that they did. It was all very strange.

After Anderson had left Teresa in the bullpen, she had run a quick background check on Teresa. The agent had been investigated in a few things, she had even been fired from the Bureau once, but nothing seemed to stick. From the look of it, she was a good agent. Her team had a higher than average closure rate. It was phenomenal until about a year ago but even at present time it was better than most.

On whim, Anderson went over to her computer in the corner of the bullpen and pulled up Google, typing in 'Teresa Lisbon' and 'Patrick'. She was amazed at what she found.

**What did you think? Let me know!**

**I never imagined Anderson having romantic feelings for Jane. I always imagined her as married. That's one of the things that bothers me most about TV shows today. Almost everyone is single. It's fine for some of them to be single, but EVERYONE? That just doesn't make sense to me. Thank goodness for Marshall and Lily! And I guess Jane but that situation is so unique it almost doesn't even count.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So a few days ago I got surgery on my mouth. It went well. My face is still really poofy though.**

**You can tell I didn't plan this story out beforehand, I already found 2 continuity errors. Oh, well, they aren't huge. **

**So I don't think this is going to be any longer than 8 or so chapters, if that even. It depends on how long it takes to solve the case and for Jane and Lisbon to reconcile. **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter, I lost track of who I send PMs to, so if I missed you I apologize.**

**This is a short little chapter. I wanted Jane and Lisbon's conversation to be a bit more private, so I found a way to do that. Unfortunately it pushes it back at least one chapter, sorry.**

**I hope you like it!**

**I own nothing.**

As it turned out, none of the lawyers they interviewed had anything worse than a parking violation on their records in the past 10 years. Jane really wasn't surprised. It did mean they needed a different angle, and to figure that one out, he needed tea.

"Blondie, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jane around up from the cup of tea his was making (in a coffee mug, unfortunately, Lisbon still had his cup) to see Anderson staring at him with a bunch of papers in her hands.

"Uh, I'm kind of busy," he told her, turning back to the counter.

"It won't take long."

"Neither will my tea."

"Blondie."

Jane didn't answer.

"_Mr_. _Jane_."

That made him freeze. Anderson figured it out. Damn it. It took Jane a few moments to shake off his stunned silence. He took a deep breath to compose himself. "What do you want from me, Stacy?"

"The truth."

"Everything you need to know is in your hands, I'm sure."

"Blondie, come on!"

Jane picked up his tea and turned to face her, but said nothing.

Anderson didn't so much as flinch under his gaze. "You know her." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"But you didn't say anything."

"No, I did not."

"_Why_?"

Jane took a sip of tea. "Do we have to do this now?"

"I could tell Brady."

Jane closed his eyes, thinking. No, he really didn't want Brady to know, but he also didn't want to discuss this in the break room where everyone could listen.

When he opened his eyes again, Anderson was still staring at him intently. He nodded towards the hallway and led her into a spare room they sometimes used for interrogations, and closed the door.

He turned to face her. "What do you want to know?"

-SG-

Anderson stared at the man in front of her, Patrick Jane, trying to figure out where she should start. This man had been through so much.

Finally she said, "Red John."

"I don't want to talk about Red John."

"He killed your family."

"Yes he did."

"So you joined the California Bureau of Investigation in order to catch him."

"Yes."

"Agent Lisbon's team."

"Where are you going with this?"

"You worked with her for almost a decade!" She was almost shouting now.

"Again, what's your point?"

"What happened?"

Jane smirked. "Oh, come on. You read the article, I know you have."

Anderson threw the papers down on a table. "All it said was you guys cornered him then killed him when he pointed a gun at an agent. An article I found from a month later mentioned in passing that you left the CBI soon after he was killed. Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why did you leave?" From the look of the team's records, and from what he had managed to do in Aspen, he was pretty darn good at his job.

"It's not important."

"That's bullcrap." Of course it's important.

You don't work with the same group of people for years and years and then just leave for no apparent reason. Anderson's temper was rising. Blondie- no, _Patrick_- still wasn't giving her anything. She knew who he was now and he still wasn't opening up. But she wasn't giving up, oh, no.

"Patrick Jane, you tell me right now, or I swear I will go tell Brady that Teresa is completely innocent and to let her go right now."

That did it. Patrick looked away, shaking his head.

His old boss, Teresa Lisbon, meant something to him. Anderson knew as well as he did that Teresa didn't have anything to do with the murders. But he still wanted her here for some reason. She was important.

Thirty seconds passed and Patrick still hadn't answered her. His expression was getting more and more exasperated. His mouth opened occasionally as if he was going to say something, only for him to close it again moments later.

"Patrick…" Anderson tried to keep her voice soft. His eyes met hers once more. "Who is she to you?"

He didn't get the chance to answer.

There was a knock on the door. Egan's voice sounded from the other side. "Blondie, Brady wants you."

-SG-

Jane had never been so happy to hear Egan's voice before. "Yeah, I'm coming."

He passed Anderson on the way to the door and she caught him by the arm, forcing him to look at her. She didn't say anything, she didn't have to. This conversation was not over.

Jane met up with Egan and Brady in the bullpen.

"We compared the bullets of Agent Lisbon's gun and the bullets found in the bodies, no match." Brady handed Jane a picture of the bullets he had mentioned.

Jane looked at it and handed it back to Brady, nodding.

"Do you have any other reason to hold her, Blondie? If not, we are going to let her go."

As Brady said this, Anderson joined them in the bullpen. Jane glanced at her, and after a moment replied, "No, I guess not."

"If I didn't know any better, I would guess that you have a crush on her," sneered Egan.

Jane stiffened. Egan really didn't have any idea.

To shut the kid up, Jane turned on him. "Do you have a crush on her, Egan?"

"Whatever, man." Egan followed Brady to the back room. Jane, meanwhile, grabbed a pen and some scratch paper and scribbled a short note. Lisbon was leaving and he still needed to talk to her. Hopefully she was planning on being in town for a few more days. Jane could feel Anderson watching him.

"We're sorry about the inconvenience, Agent," said Brady as he led Lisbon to the front door.

"I understand," she replied, "you're just doing your job."

"I hope the rest of your vacation goes well!" Anderson said from where she was now seated at her desk.

"Thanks, Stacy, I hope so too." Lisbon turned to Jane. "Patrick."

Jane knew she expected him to say something, but instead, he just gave a small wave. He watched her face fall slightly before she said goodbye to Brady and started for the door.

"Wait." Lisbon turned when Jane called out to her, her eyes wide. "You forgot your jacket."

Jane walked over to the coat rack and brought her jacket over to her, trying not to meet her eyes.

"Thanks," she said, trying not to let her disappointment show. Jane was pretty sure he was the only one who noticed.

Lisbon turned and walked out the door without another word.

Jane felt something hit the back of his head. It was a wadded up piece of paper. He picked it up and looked at Anderson, the only person who could have thrown it. She was glaring at him.

"Sorry. I was aiming for the trash can."

-SG-

Lisbon slid back in her car and closed the door, resting her head on the steering wheel. She had guessed right. Jane wanted a new life, away from everyone.

At least she knew he was ok. He had a good job. She didn't think he had any friends, but Anderson looked like she was nice enough to him.

She was glad Jane had reminded her to grab her jacket, her keys were in it. She reached into the right front pocket and was surprised to find a folded up piece of paper as well as her keys inside it.

It was a note. She immediately recognized the handwriting. Jane.

_Lisbon-_

_I know I don't deserve the opportunity, but please give me a chance to explain. Lunch tomorrow at Boogies? 11:30? I really need to talk to you._

_-Jane_

Lisbon bit her lower lip slightly before looking back at the building. She knew Jane was watching her from a window. She didn't need to give him an answer. She was pretty sure he knew she would come.

-SG-

Anderson approached Jane in the back room, who for once wasn't pretending to sleep. "What was that?" She asked him.

Jane stared at the ceiling. "I left a note in her pocket asking her to have lunch with me tomorrow. I need to explain myself. I owe it to her."

Anderson stood there and watched him think for a little while before he spoke again. "You know, back at the CBI, there was a stain on the ceiling that looked like Elvis. I would lie on my couch and look up and there he was."

Anderson smirked and shook her head, amused. "You had a couch back there too?"

"Of course."

They both went silent for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Anderson's curiosity got the better of her again. "Who is she? You never said."

Jane took a deep breath before answering. "Teresa Lisbon is the head of the Serious Crimes Unit at the CBI. She is better at her job than anyone else I've seen. She loves it. Her team looks up to her. She is tough, but also very understanding. Her team is like her family. She would do anything for them and they would do anything for her."

Anderson snorted. "That's nice. You still didn't answer my original question. Who is she to you, personally?"

Jane gave a small, humorless smile, but said nothing, obviously not ready to share.

Finally, Anderson gave up. She'd pushed him enough for one day. There would be plenty of time to get more information out of him before is lunch with the California cop the next day. "Fine. I'm headed home for the night. Jim's making Swedish Meatballs tonight if you want to stop by, we'd love to have you. Otherwise, I guess I will see you tomorrow. And go back to your apartment to sleep! You spend way too much time here."

With that, Anderson turned on her heel and left Jane to his thoughts. She had a lot to think about tonight.

-SG-SG-

**Next chapter is going to be long, I can feel it!**

**Thank you so much for reading! Please review and let me know what you think!**

**Thank you for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ok. Chapter 5. Jane and Lisbon's lunch. **

**I really hope this turned out alright. It was extremely difficult to write. (Hey, that rhymed, hehe)**

**Thank you so much to everyone for reading and reviewing this! I have, like, 52 reviews as of right now. I can't believe it! **

**Anyway, sorry for the long wait; like I said it was hard to write.**

**I own nothing.**

Jane did end up going back to his apartment that night, but he still didn't get any sleep. He had too much on his mind.

He wandered back into the station at six. Anderson got in at eight. Jane had expected her to come interrogate him again, but thankfully, she didn't. Not right away at least.

Most of the morning they were all focused on the case. For the most part they were trying to find a connection between the local hiker and the lawyer, but so far they found nothing. Egan left with Brady at around 10, leaving Jane and Anderson alone.

Jane heard her approach his couch but he didn't open his eyes. After a few moments he heard a chair sliding across the floor. She wasn't going to let him off the hook so easily today. No. He had some explaining to do and he wasn't getting out of it this time.

Jane let out a heavy sigh and sat up, finally making eye contact with Anderson. "What do you want to know?"

"Why did you leave?"

"It was better for everyone."

"Better for everyone or better for you?"

"No." Jane shook his head and looked at a poster in the corner. "No. Better for everyone."

"From your perspective."

"Stacy, please." He made eye contact with Anderson again. She didn't say anything as he searched for words. "After it happened I needed to leave. If I had stayed I would have said some things I would have regretted and I didn't want to do that. I would have hurt the people closest to me and they didn't deserve that."

"And by the people closest to you, you mean Teresa."

"And the team."

"But mostly, Teresa."

Jane rested his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands. His body jerked. At first Anderson thought he was crying, but with a closer look she was amazed to see that he was laughing. It was a sad sort of laugh, but a laugh none the less.

"Patrick?"

He answered without looking at her. "I had that exact same conversation about five years ago, only reversed. Well, not really reversed, we were still talking about me hurting her but…"

Jane leaned back against the couch, shaking his head. "I promised her I would protect her."

"So you left because you thought you were protecting her from you." Jane nodded. "Did she want you to protect her?"

He smiled. "What do you think? Cops always think they can take care of themselves."

Anderson laughed at that. "Isn't that the truth."

Silence fell. Anderson continued to stare at Jane until he looked at her.

"Why didn't you ever go back? After you calmed down a bit? I mean, you don't look angry anymore."

Jane didn't answer. He had an answer, but he didn't really feel like sharing. He knew exactly how Anderson would react to it. She would brush it aside. She'd tell him it was a terrible reason. But she wasn't there for those 10 years. She didn't know him. She didn't know how broken he really was.

When Jane didn't answer, Anderson added, "You don't really seem happy being here either."

That was all Jane could take at that point. He didn't deserve to be happy. "Don't you have a case to solve?"

"We aren't done here, Patrick."

Jane acted like he hadn't heard her. He stood up. "I'm going to make some tea. You want some tea? I'll go make tea." With that he left the room, leaving Anderson sitting on the hard plastic chair in next to the couch.

She wanted to smack the man upside the head. He cared for Teresa. That much was obvious. Why was he so… _stupid_.

Now what she really wanted was to have a sit down with Teresa. Maybe she could get something out of her. From the looks of it she knew the man better than anyone.

-SG-

Boogies Diner is a retro-style diner on Cooper Avenue. Jane had been there a few times with the team for closed-case dinner, and he knew Lisbon secretly loved diners.

By 11:40, Jane was almost convinced she wasn't going to show up. He sighed with disappointment.

Right on cue, he heard her voice coming from behind him.

"Jane?"

There she was.

Lisbon was wearing Bermuda shorts, a tank top, and Teva Flip-Flops. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Jane couldn't help but smile when he saw her.

"Hey, Lisbon. For a moment there I thought you weren't going to come."

"As if. Can we go in?"

Jane smiled and they walked together to the door. Jane opened it, letting Lisbon go through first. His hand found the small of her back as he ushered her through, just as it had so often done before.

They climbed the stairs to the second story and were seated. Jane ordered an iced tea. Lisbon got Vanilla Coke.

"Iced tea, Jane? Really?"

"It's hot outside, Lisbon."

"Says the man who still refuses wear anything other than a three piece suit."

Jane smiled and shrugged, letting her win that round.

"Besides," she continued, "Sacramento could get way hotter than Aspen, and you never gave up your tea then."

"Hush woman, you don't see me commenting on your Vanilla Coke!"

"Diners are the only place you can get it, anymore. It was my favorite growing up."

The waitress came with their drinks and took their orders. They both got sandwiches.

An uncomfortable silence fell. They both knew what they needed to talk about, but neither of them wanted to bring it up. Instead, Lisbon asked Jane about the case.

"So, do you know who did it yet?"

"Huh? Oh, no. We've been looking for a connection between the two victims. So far nothing."

"Do you have any hunches?"

"Nope."

"Really?" Lisbon was surprised. Usually by the second day Jane would have already had an idea of what was going on, more so than she did at least.

"I've been a little distracted."

And they were back to an awkward silence once more.

When they finally spoke again, they both tried at the same time.

"Jane, I want-"

"Listen, Lisbon-"

"You first." Lisbon wanted to know what he had to say.

Jane took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"For?" She wanted to be sure he was apologizing for what she thought he was apologizing for.

"Leaving."

Lisbon let out a small, humorless laugh. "You didn't just leave, Jane. I could have dealt with that. You disappeared."

Jane looked at the table. "Sorry."

"You could have at least called. Let me know that you were ok. God, for all I knew you were sitting alone in that house slowly losing you mind. Or worse. If you hadn't left your cell phone on for us to track-" Lisbon stopped for a moment to compose herself. "And then we lost your cell phone. I looked for you. Your house was empty. The lady at the long term stay motel you stayed at said you'd checked out ages ago. After that the few times you used your credit card you were out of state-"

"You really went all out."

"Well, if you had told me that you were ok, I would have left it alone, but you didn't."

"Would you have? Really?"

"Yes."

Just then the waitress came with their food. It was true. If Jane had told her he was alright, she wouldn't have been so worried. She still would have been sad, he was her best friend after all, but at least she would have known that he was alright.

Jane took a bite of his sandwich. Lisbon did the same.

When he swallowed, he asked, "When did you check my house?"

Lisbon looked a little confused. Swallowing, she said, "about a month or so after you left. Why?"

"So it was still there?"

"Jane, what are you talking about?"

"The face, Lisbon."

"Um, yeah. It was still there."

Jane nodded unconsciously. Lisbon watched him closely, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

And then he spoke. "When I left, Lisbon, I was… angry. It's just, I didn't get my revenge, Lisbon! All those years I spent looking for him-"

"All those years WE spent looking for him, Jane."

"Lisbon, please, this is hard enough as it is."

Lisbon fell silent.

"I spent all that time trying to find him, to get my revenge. And then I didn't. I kept thinking about how Red John was mine. But at the same time there was this small voice in the back of my head that told me Red John stopped being mine a long time ago.

"For the first few weeks I pushed those thoughts down… I wanted to be mad. I felt like I _should_ be mad.

"But being mad is so… tiring. The voice in the back of my head kept getting louder… It sounded a lot like your voice. That made it even worse. I was so confused.

"Eventually I went and talked to Sophie. She convinced me to let it go. She told me I needed to grieve. It was the only way I could move on.

"She was right, of course. It's what I needed to do. Over the next month or so that's what I did… I visited their graves. I visited meaningful places. I went through everything I put in storage. I let myself remember them. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done."

Neither of them was touching their food. Lisbon just watched Jane as he spoke, his voice shaking slightly, eyes dropped, fingers picking at an indent in the table.

"When I thought I was ready, I went to the house. I painted over the face. Sophie told me I needed to forgive myself. That was the first step. A few days later I took off my ring. I left it with hers in our secret spot. I… I…"

His voice broke. Lisbon reached forward and covered his hand with hers, stilling it. His eyes flicked up to meet hers. She didn't say a word, but it gave Jane just enough strength to continue.

"I walked away. I forgave myself. I decided it was time to move on. But… I didn't really know what to do. I never planned for after. I thought I'd either be dead or in jail. So I drove. Eventually I ended up here. Brady's daughter had been kidnapped. I knew I could help. Brady offered me a job. There really wasn't anything else for me to do, so I took it."

"You could have come back." Jane closed his eyes as he heard the softness in Lisbon's voice. His hand flipped over and he threaded his fingers through hers. It was a little awkward from that angle, but they made it work.

"No, I couldn't have."

"Why not?"

And there they were. Jane's mind raced. What does he say? He stared at their intertwined hands. "Lisbon, when I left, part of the reason was I knew if I stayed I would say things with the intention of hurting you. I've already hurt you way too much. You've done so much for me. You didn't deserve that."

"And you thought just leaving without a word was a better alternative to that?"

Jane bowed his head. No, now that they were here having this conversation, he did not think leaving like that was much better, but it was a little less direct, and Jane had always been a coward.

Even after doing his best not to, Jane had still hurt her. He had hurt Lisbon. _His Lisbon_. The one person who had stuck with him through everything.

"Why does this waitress keep giving me dirty looks?"

Jane's head snapped up, caught off guard by her question. "Huh?"

Lisbon was looking at something over his shoulder. "That waitress, I think her nametag said 'Caroline'. She keeps glaring at me."

Jane glanced over his shoulder and sure enough, Caroline was looking in their direction, and she did not look happy. He turned back to Lisbon. "Want to see what she wrote on the last receipt she gave me?" Jane didn't wait for her answer before he pulled the receipt out from his wallet and handed it to her.

Lisbon read it out loud. "'You look like you need some cheering up. Call Me.' Her phone number is on here too." She looked up to meet Jane's eyes. "Did you call her?"

Jane looked at her, confused. "What?"

"Did you call her?" Jane still looked perplexed, so she elaborated. "Well, I mean, you took off your ring, Jane. You said you were going to try to move on."

"Oh. Um. No, I didn't." If he was telling the truth, Jane hadn't dated at all since he had taken off his ring. He wasn't really comfortable throwing himself out there like that. Besides, who on Earth would want him anyway? Even if he had begun to heal he was still so broken.

"Why not?"

Jane just shrugged. Thankfully Lisbon didn't push him. Instead, she just squeezed his hand. He squeezed back and they both let go to continue eating their sandwiches.

After about five minutes or so, Lisbon spoke. "What if there is no connection?"

Jane looked up at her and tilted his head to the side.

"The between the victims, I mean. What if there is no connection. What if one of them was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

Jane stared at her, mouth open. Then, he smiled. "You, Lisbon, are a genius!"

He stood up from the booth, pulling several large bills out of his wallet and throwing them on the table before looking at Lisbon again. "You coming?"

"I'm not done eating!" she replied, motioning to the half-eaten food in front of her.

"Oh, come on!" Jane said smiling. "You know you want to!"

Lisbon looked at Jane, then at her food, then back to Jane again. She sighed and Jane's smile grew wider. He was right. She wanted to go. Lisbon tried not to laugh at his enthusiasm when he practically ran down the stairs to the door. When she finally caught up to him she said, "I'm surprised you didn't think of that."

Jane shrugged. "I told you, I've been distracted."

-SG-SG-

**And there you have it! Don't worry, this was not them reconciling. They have a lot more talking to do. I'm thinking maybe 3 or 4ish more chapters. **

**I really wanted to bring Lisbon back to the station. She and Anderson need to have a talk.**

**I'm a little disappointing with my formatting of this one. It sifts perspectives without breaks. Oh well.**

**Oh, and Boogies is a real place. If you are in Aspen ever, take a look!**

**Thank you so much for reading! You are a wonderful person!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, old friends! It's been a while. Holy crap.**

**I'm going to be honest with you, this chapter SUCKED to write. It was so difficult. I rewrote it so many times.**

**I wish the final outcome was better, or even just longer, than the time it took to write would have been worth it. Shoot.**

**Thanks to wimmer511 for sending me a message telling me to hurry up with an update (worded it a heck of a lot nicer, but that's basically what it said). It's amazing to think that people enjoy my story enough to be impatient. **

**Anyway, here it is! **

**I own nothing.**

Anderson jumped when the front door burst open, revealing Blondie and Teresa.

"Stacy! Lisbon had an idea!" Blondie shouted, motioning to the woman beside him, who looked thoroughly amused.

"What idea?" Anderson asked.

"What if they aren't connected?"

Anderson looked from Blondie to Teresa (who was still watching Blondie with her arms crossed and smiling) and back again. "So basically one of them was the target and the other was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"Yep!" Blondie was grinning from ear to ear. Anderson really had no idea what had gotten into him. It looked like his lunch with Teresa went well.

Anderson smiled. "Honestly I wondered about that. You just seemed so sure there was a connection so I didn't put much thought into it. Usually you are right about this kind of thing. Something got you off you game, you think?"

Blondie opened his mouth to answer (Anderson would never know what he was going to say) when Brady walked in.

"Teresa, what are you doing back here?"

Blondie spun around to look at the chief. "Brady! We need to go talk to Mrs. Mitchell again. I have a new theory."

"You mean _I_ have a new theory."

He turned back to Teresa when she spoke.

"No, my dear, I'll admit your idea sparked my theory, but you still have no idea who did the murders."

"And you do?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Blondie turned back to Brady. "Can we go?"

Brady nodded. "I guess."

"Great!"

"You guys have fun with that!" Anderson told the two men as they left.

She looked at the woman beside her. She was smiling and shaking her head, clearly entertained by Blondie's behavior. The whole situation was really nice actually. Just the night before she'd been thinking about how nice it would be to have a chat with the Patrick's former boss, and now she had the perfect opportunity.

"He's something, isn't he?

Teresa nodded. "Yes he is."

"Hey, do you want some coffee? I've been wanting to talk to you."

Teresa looked suspicious when she met Anderson's gaze. After a few seconds she said, "You figured it out."

Anderson smiled. She supposed working with Blondie for so long, Teresa had picked up some of his skills. Or maybe she was always that good. "I did. Google."

Teresa raised her eyebrows and nodded. "I'd love some coffee, thank you."

Teresa followed Anderson into the break room. Anderson left the cupboard open so Teresa could pick her own mug. She watched as Teresa's hand hovered over the light blue cup that belonged to Patrick before deciding on a large black mug. Anderson bit back a smirk.

Anderson led the way to the back room and Teresa immediately settled down on the Blondie's couch. The Aspen cop decided to follow suit.

After taking a sip of coffee, she said, "You know, the last person who sat on Blondie's couch won't even come into this room anymore out of fear."

Teresa shook her head. "Do I even want to know?"

"The poor man's eyebrows have never been the same."

Teresa smiled. "That's Jane. No one comes between him and his couch."

"Not even you?"

Teresa met Anderson's gaze but didn't answer her question. Instead, she asked her own. "How much do you know?"

Anderson set her coffee down on the small table beside the armrest. "Just what I read on the internet and what little I've managed to weasel out of Patrick."

Teresa didn't say anything, so Anderson continued. "I know he used to be a fake psychic. I know he joined the CBI after Red John killed his wife and daughter. I know he worked with you and your team until just after Red John's death." No need to mention the reasons he gave for leaving. That wasn't for her to say.

Teresa nodded. "When Jane came to us he was probably the biggest pain-in-the-ass I had ever met. Probably still is, to be honest with you. But he closed cases like a fiend so we held on to him. He was so hell-bent on revenge for the longest time. He didn't get it. He left."

"Oh, come on. He couldn't have been that cold the entire time he was there."

Teresa shook her head and smiled. "No, I suppose he wasn't." She took a sip of coffee. "After the first couple years he started to relax around us more. He started telling me things about his past. He started doing things with the team. He let us in on his schemes. But Red John was always there in the back of his mind."

"What was he like to work with back then? In the beginning?"

Teresa stared straight ahead, remembering. "Like I said, in the beginning he was just a pain-in-the-ass. I swear Minelli almost fired him more times than I can count. He got suspended all the time. He only started being more careful when one of his schemes almost got a little girl killed. That hit him pretty hard."

Anderson nodded. That made sense. "Did he ever talk about his family?"

"He started to more and more as time went on, but still not very often."

"What was he like towards the end?"

"Oh, he was still coming up with his so-called cunning plans, but usually he told us what he was doing. The only time he kept things from me was if he thought it would be better if I had complete deniability. Which I guess was thoughtful of him, but I would have rather him not do those things in the first place."

"What did his cunning plans usually entail?"

Teresa smiled and rolled her eyes. "All sorts of things. Once he convinced everyone inside a medical research facility that they were going to die within a matter of hours. He had me convinced I was going to die too. When he finally told me I punched him in the nose."

Anderson laughed. "Good for you! What did convincing everyone they were going to die do to solve the murder?"

"He pretended to release the same pathogen that had been used to kill the first victim. The only way you could survive it was to take the antidote before you are exposed. The virus was so bad the Government was going to torch the place after everyone died in order to keep the thing from spreading. Jane figured the person who took the vaccine would have to try to escape if he didn't want to go up in flames. He wasn't going to die because of the virus."

Anderson stared at the cop next to her, amazed. "Did it work?"

"Like a charm."

"And the state of California was ok with him doing that?"

"They weren't completely ok with it. I had a boatload of paper work to do after, though. I hate paperwork. Jane apologized by bringing me coffee and a bear claw every morning for the next week."

"Did he do that kind of thing a lot?"

"When he thought I was mad at him, yeah. Or if we got a call early in the morning. He claimed I was grumpy in the morning if I didn't get coffee and he knew I wouldn't stop on the way to a crime scene."

Anderson tried not to smile too much. "I meant did he close cases like that a lot."

Teresa blushed a little, but answered her all the same. "Not all of the cases we got were difficult to close. Cho could get a confession just by staring at some of them. Jane's plans usually only came out during the harder cases. Some of them took more cleaning up after than others."

"How was he not suspended all the time?"

"Jane was the Bureau's golden boy. Minelli was the only one around at the start; he was the only one who had the nerve to suspend him. Everyone else would take it out on me."

"That doesn't sound fair."

"Nope… luckily Jane seemed to think so too. He'd pull all kinds of strings to keep the team together."

"Really?"

"You know about Jane shooting Timothy Carter right?"

Anderson's eyes widened. Jane shot someone? What? He hates guns! That much she knew. "What? No!"

"You didn't look too deeply then. Jane shot a man named Timothy Carter because Carter claimed to be Red John. Obviously he wasn't. Jane went to court and won the jury over. After the trial was over, my boss's boss decided the fallout of Jane's operation was my fault and basically fired me for it. He split up the team too. I can see where he was coming from. I was the supervising agent; I should have been more in control of the situation. But, Jane, being the golden boy he was got his job back."

"Damn!" She knew Blondie was good, but this? Teresa just told her he got away with murder and was _still_ allowed back to the CBI. They wanted him around that much. It blew her mind.

-SG-

Lisbon glanced over at Anderson. She really had no idea.

"And of course, Jane being Jane stirred up all kinds of trouble. I kind of feel sorry for the head of his new unit. He didn't deserve what he got. Neither did his team."

"Why would Patrick do that?"

"He… he felt guilty I think. I lost my job because of him. I told him a few years before that I knew it would happen eventually."

Lisbon remembered the conversation the two of them had shared in the shipping container in Mexico. She remembered Jane telling her he would always save her. He had kept his promise, at least in this case.

She took another sip of coffee and continued. "He didn't have enough pull to convince Bertram to bring the team and I back just by talking to him, so he raised hell. I'm still not sure what exactly made Bertram come around, but he did."

"So basically risked his job in order to get you back."

"Whoa, slow down. He just knew how much my job meant to me."

"Yes, and he was willing to risk his job to get yours back."

"Stacy. It wasn't like that. Besides, it wasn't like Bertram would have actually fired him."

"He cares about you, admit it."

"Even if he did, he sure has a funny way of showing it."

-SG-

Anderson shook her head. She could not believe this woman. She really had no idea how much Blondie cared about her. Anderson knew Teresa could read Patrick better than she could, why couldn't she see this? Did she not want to see it? Anderson still didn't understand.

"Do you trust him?"

Teresa froze. "I thought I did. Now… now I'm not sure."

"Does he trust you?"

"That's what he tells me."

"But you don't believe him."

"No."

"Why not?"

"What is your point, Stacy?"

Anderson sighed. "I guess I'm just trying to understand."

"Understand what?"

"So you care about him?"

Teresa looked at her. "Of course I do. He was on my team. What do you expect?"

"That's not exactly what I meant."

Just then Anderson's phone rang. It was Brady. She stood and flipped open her phone. "Anderson."

"The Agent was right. The wife confessed. Killed Mitchell for cheating, killed Lawson because he saw her do it."

Out of the corner of her eye, Anderson saw Teresa stand and leave the room. _Damnit!_ she thought. She had been so close to getting Teresa to talk.

"That's great, boss! I'll start the paperwork."

-SG-SG-

**A few more chapters to go! Hopefully it won't take so long to update this time.**

**Thanks for reading! And not giving up on me!**


	7. Chapter 7

**HI EVERYONE! So I don't think I told you this last time, but this is the last chapter. I really enjoyed working on this story and I was blown away by the response it got. Thank you so much for that!**

**I really want to thank my friend Shannon for helping me with some ideas, fightsoftly for editing it, and wimmer511 for pestering me to get it done! You all are awesome!**

**Again, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for reading this. It's been a ride!**

**Enjoy!**

**I own nothing.**

**p.s. Sorry for the wait.**

Lisbon was all too happy when Anderson got that phone call. She put more coffee in her mug than eyed the clock. Jane would be back in ten minutes or so. She might as well make him some tea.

-SG-

Jane was really surprised to see that Lisbon was still at the station when he got back. She was sitting at the small table in the break room. "Hey, Lisbon."

She turned and smiled at him, motioning to his tea cup. "I made you some tea."

He returned her smile. "Thank you."

He took a sip. It was perfect. He smiled.

"What, you didn't think I'd remember how to make your tea?"

"I never doubted you for a second, my dear."

He watched as she looked down and took a sip of coffee. He couldn't express how wonderful it was to see her again. To have her sitting in front of him. That she made him tea. He didn't even want to think about saying goodbye to her, even though he knew it must be done. He wanted to spend as much time with her as he could. Now that the murder was wrapped up, he intended to do so.

"How much longer were you planning on staying here for?"

"I was going to head over to the Denver Airport tomorrow morning."

His teacup hit the saucer a little harder than he intended. "But you just got here."

"I've been here for over a week now, Jane."

"What?"

She had been in Aspen for a week. A WHOLE WEEK. And he didn't know! How was that possible?

Jane realized his thinking was a little irrational. It wasn't like he had some sort of Lisbon Sense. Like he could feel when she was around.

Still.

"I've been hiking, mostly. The trails are great around here."

Jane just nodded. A whole week. How had he not known? She's been around, hiking the trails, probably going to shops. He could have been with her, asking her questions about herself and the team.

"What do you do around here?" Lisbon asked when he hadn't said anything.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're hardly the hiker."

"Well, I fight crime."

"And what else? Come on, Jane, it's a small town. There can't be that much crime."

-SG-

Lisbon watched Jane take another sip of his tea before he answered. "I help other jurisdictions as well. I was in Glenwood Springs earlier this week."

"And you enjoy it?"

"It keeps me occupied, yeah."

Lisbon watched Jane as he drank more of his tea. She couldn't help thinking about what Anderson said about him on their way down from the mountain. How he didn't really smile much. Jane smiled all the time back in California.

All she wanted was for Jane to be happy. She assumed because he hadn't left that he liked Aspen, but then again he was always one for self-punishment.

"So you like Aspen, then?"

Jane nodded. "It's nice. Small. I've always liked small towns."

"So, you're happy, then?"

Jane smiled down at his tea. "As happy as I can be."

-SG-

Anderson's mind wandered as she finished up her portion of the paperwork. She kept thinking about Teresa and Patrick. Those two had been close, she could tell. The way Patrick's face lit up when she was around was enough evidence for her.

She remembered how amused Teresa looked when Patrick barged in with a new theory. She looked happy. Anderson also remembered how she talked about him earlier. Oh, Teresa cared about him alright. She doubted the agent would admit it, though.

Anderson heard footsteps in the hallway and looked up to see Teresa stepping through the doorway with Patrick right behind her.

Teresa stopped to grab her coat and looked back at Patrick, who was now standing with his hands in his pockets. Neither said anything at first. Anderson could tell they really didn't want to say goodbye.

"So, I guess you are going to be heading back to California now," said Patrick. It was more of a statement than a question.

Teresa nodded. "I guess." The awkward silence returned; neither one of them moved. They just stared at each other, frozen.

The tension broke when Patrick took two giant steps forward, pulling Teresa toward him and wrapping his arms around her. She stood up on her toes, returning the hug. Teresa turned her head and whispered something into his ear. He smiled a sad smile and whispered something back. Anderson saw his arms tighten around her as he did so. They stayed like that for a minute, whispered a few more words and then broke apart once more. Patrick pulled her coat from her hands and helped her put it on.

She turned to look at him once more. "If you're ever in California…"

"I know where to find you."

"It was good seeing you again."

"It was good seeing you too." He looked at her with such obvious affection that Anderson could not understand how Teresa could not see it. "Goodbye, Lisbon."

"Bye, Jane."

They smiled at each other for another moment before Teresa turned around and headed out the door.

Patrick watched as she walked down the street and out of sight. When her form disappeared around the corner the smile faded from his face. He bit his lip and looked at the ground.

Anderson had never seen him looking so defeated. She's seen him sad, angry, tired, and frustrated but never defeated.

She wouldn't be surprised if Patrick felt her watching him from the way his eyes snapped up to meet hers. She froze. His gaze was intense and very sad. For once he wasn't hiding.

He turned away and strode out of the bullpen towards the break room.

-SG-

Anderson stood in the doorway holding her cup of coffee. Patrick was "sleeping" on his couch. His tea cup was sitting on the coffee table. The steam that was still rising from it was a tell-tale sign he was awake. It was six in the morning. Right at that moment Agent Teresa Lisbon was driving out to the Denver International Airport and there he was just…

He was so… _stupid_.

When Anderson had gone home the night before she'd had a long conversation with her husband about the previous day's events. Jim had come to the same conclusion she had: whether he was ready to admit it or not, Patrick was in love with Teresa Lisbon.

And here he was lying on the couch.

He wasn't going after her.

He wasn't making any effort at all to get her back.

So the question was… _why_?

Because he thought she deserved better than him?

Because he didn't think he deserved her?

Both of those reasons were complete and utter bullshit.

"Are you going to say something or are you just going to stand in the doorway?" Anderson jumped slightly when Patrick spoke before composing herself.

"You're an idiot."

Patrick opened his eyes and looked at her. "How so?"

"Teresa is on a plane right now."

"Technically she's driving to the terminal right now."

"Jane—"

"Ah, so I'm Jane now. Interesting."

"Shut it. Right now."

Patrick sat up and put his hand up in surrender.

"Why are you just letting her go?"

"Is there a reason why I shouldn't?" he asked, reaching for his tea.

"Don't play dumb with me. I'm not blind. I've seen how you look at her. I've seen how she looks at you."

"You don't understand."

Oh, no. There was no way Anderson was playing this game with him again. Not a chance. Time for a new strategy.

She took a couple steps into the room. "You know what, maybe I'm wrong."

Patrick looked up from his tea, eyebrows raised. "What?"

"Maybe you don't really care about her."

Anderson was delighted to see Patrick freeze at her words.

"I mean, you left her. She cares about you. She would do anything for you, and you left her." She watched as he struggled with some sort of come back.

She was a little disappointed with what he came up with. "How would you know she'd do anything for me?"

"Oh, please. She worked with you for how many years? She put up with how many of your stunts? And she never gave up on you. You chased Red John for a long time, Patrick and she stood by you the whole time. It doesn't even matter that she told me yesterday that she cared about you, the evidence is all there. She'd go with you to the ends of the Earth. And you just left."

"Stop." His voice cracked.

Anderson raised her voice slightly. "She was just a means to an end to you, wasn't she? You kept her around so that you could get the help you needed to catch Red John and when she took it away from you just left."

"No!"

She moved so she was standing in front of him across the short table. "And the promise to protect her was just another con, wasn't it? A con to gain her trust and to keep her around."

Patrick stood up, eyes flaring with anger. "Shut up!"

"Teresa Lisbon means nothing to you!"

"TERESA LISBON MEANS EVERYTHING TO ME!"

There. That was it. That was what Anderson wanted to hear. She put her coffee down on the coffee table and crossed her arms across her chest and waited.

It seems to take Jane a couple seconds to realize what Anderson had just done. When he did he sat back down and put elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.

She didn't speak. It was Patrick's turn.

Very slowly, Patrick pulled out his wallet and opened it. He took out the picture she'd so often seen him looking at. After looking at it for a few seconds, he handed it to her.

She couldn't help but smile when she saw the picture. It was of Patrick and Teresa at some sort of formal event. Teresa was wearing a dark purple dress with a single strap over her left shoulder. She was laughing. Patrick was looking very handsome in a tux. He was smiling. It was the smile she's only seen from him since Teresa showed up.

Anderson looked back down at Patrick and handed the photo back to him. "What are you doing here, Patrick?"

"I'm fighting crime."

"Blondie."

"Stacy."

She grabbed a chair and pulled it over so she could be eye level with him. "Why can't you put the past behind you and just let yourself be happy?"

Patrick looked at the floor and shook his head. "I don't deserve to be happy."

"Everyone deserves happiness, Patrick."

"I don't."

Anderson felt frustration bubbling up inside her again. "And what about Teresa, you don't think she deserves to be happy?"

"You know I don't think that."

"You're acting like you do."

"She deserves all the happiness in the world."

"So why are you keeping it from her? You've been gone for a year! You expected her to move on? Guess what, Blondie, she hasn't. I could see that in her eyes and I know that if I can see it, you can. You want her to be happy, get out of here. Go after her."

"Well, I can't just leave. I have a job. I have an apartment."

Anderson stood up and moved her hand to her hip. She took out her gun and pointed it at him.

Patrick's eyes widened. "You're very persuasive."

"You know it."

He put his hands in the air as a sign of surrender. "Ok, ok, I'm going."

Anderson followed the consultant's movements with her gun as he stood up and walked over to the door. He stopped at the frame and put his put his hand back to his sides.

"Thank you," he said softly.

"Just don't come back."

"Not even to visit?"

Anderson smiled over her gun. "Ok, don't come back alone."

He smiled and nodded.

"Now get out of here! Go on. Get! I will use this thing."

Patrick held her gaze for a few more seconds before ducking out of the room. Hopefully for good.

Very slowly, Anderson lowered her gun. "Go get her, Blondie."

-SG-

After she got home from the airport, instead of unpacking, Lisbon decided to sit on her couch, eat ice cream and watch BBC's Sherlock. She wasn't really paying attention to it. No, her thoughts were back in Colorado.

He was ok. He wasn't dead. He wasn't insane. He had a job. He even told her that he was happy of sorts.

She was so relived. She was. Still…

She'd thought that… maybe…

Maybe he'd want to come back.

"I missed you," she'd whispered in his ear while they'd hugged.

"I missed you too," he'd replied.

And she had. She just didn't realize how much until the moment she had to say goodbye again. She didn't want him to disappear from her life again, so she made him promise to keep in touch.

Lisbon shook her head to clear it, trying to pay more attention to the show, listening to the banter between Sherlock and John that sometimes seemed all too familiar.

Two episodes later, Lisbon tried to keep back tears as she watched John limp away. She decided that re-watching The Reichenbach Fall probably wasn't the best idea. Oh well. Too late now.

She hoped John punched Sherlock the next time he saw him. He deserved it.

Lisbon's phone rang. She picked it up. "Lisbon."

"Hey Boss." It was Cho. "We need you to come in. We have an unexpected visitor who says he won't leave until he talks to you."

"Can you tell him to come back tomorrow, Cho? Today is still technically part of my vacation."

"I've tried. He's not moving."

Lisbon thought this was odd. Normally Cho could be very intimidating and persuasive. "Who is this guy?"

"You really should get over here, Boss."

She sighed. "Ok, Cho. I'm on my way."

-SG-

As Lisbon pulled up to the CBI a half an hour later she wondered for the thousandth time about who it was who was so desperate to talk to her that he couldn't wait until the next day.

When she reached the bullpen she was surprised to see that the whole team was still there.

"Hey guys, what are you all still doing here?"

Van Pelt and Rigsby exchanged nervous glances but Cho's face remained impassive. "Finishing up some loose ends," he said.

"Uh, ok. Where is the man you were talking about before, Cho?"

"He's in your office."

"You left him alone in my office?"

Cho just shrugged and looked back down at his computer.

Lisbon rolled her eyes and walked over to her office wondering who could possibly be on the other side.

All the blinds were shut. She didn't leave them like that so someone else closed them. That was irritating.

She pulled the door open and froze. He was standing in front of the couch holding a pail of strawberries and a paper bag from Marie's. He looked a bit disheveled, nervous even.

"What are you doing here?" she finally managed to choke out.

"Trying to find happiness."

"I thought that's what you were doing in Colorado."

Jane shook his head, placing the food on the table. "No. I was keeping myself from it. I was still punishing myself for what happened. Stacy had to go all Rafiki on me. She told me I needed to let myself be happy… so… I came back."

"To California?"

"To you."

Lisbon's mouth hung open. She had no idea what to say. Jane seemed to realize this and continued.

"I have found that I'm happiest when I'm around you, and I don't want to let that go again. So… I'm here. Unless you want me to leave—"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

Jane smiled. "Good."

"I mean it, Jane. You can't leave again."

He took a few steps forward. "I won't."

"Because if you do, I will hunt you down and I will shoot you."

"Ok." He was right in front of her now.

"I don't want to have to go through that, Patrick."

He moved a hand to her cheek. "You won't."

Lisbon swallowed. "Good, because—"

She didn't get a chance to finish. She would forgive him for cutting her off this time though. In fact, she forgave him for everything.

Because he was kissing her.

And after a whole year without him, she was perfectly ok with that.

**Let me know what you thought! I have an epilogue I'm planning that shouldn't take too long put up. **

**Thanks again for reading!**

**p.s. If you want to check out my other story "Love is Strange", that'd be awesome. It's not all fluff even though a lot of people might think it is. Give it a few chapters.**


	8. Epilogue

**Well, this is it! I am officially done with this story. I'm sad to see it go.**

**Thank you all for reading and reviewing it! I never expected so many of you to so. This was more of an experiment than anything. It was a nice surprise. **

**Thanks to fightsoftly for helping revise and edit this. You rock. **

**That'****s****really**** all there is to say I guess. **

**ENJOY!**

**I own nothing. **

It was a little after 11 at night and Jane and Lisbon were on her couch watching TV. Lisbon was sitting with her feet on the coffee table in front of her and Jane was lying down with his head in her lap and his feet on the opposite armrest. They were watching various late night television talk shows, but neither of them were really paying attention. They were each just enjoying the other's company.

Jane could not help but think about how incredibly happy he was. What was even more remarkable was how often he'd been feeling like this over the past few months. Without guilt and without fear.

He was free now. He was free to love. He could love Lisbon, well, Teresa now, without the fear of Red John taking her away from him. It was liberating.

Technically, he'd been able to do that long before she showed up in Aspen. Jane could not thank Stacy enough for pushing him to follow her back.

Jane closed his eyes as Teresa started playing with his hair absentmindedly. It was nice. He sighed.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Teresa.

Jane smiled without opening his eyes. "I'm thinking I need to send Stacy a huge box of chocolates as a thank you."

"Oh! That reminds me." Teresa slid out from under him and his head fell back on the couch cushions. Somehow it was not as comfortable.

"Get back here, woman!"

"Bite me. Shut up." She added, sensing Jane's reply.

Jane chuckled and sat up as Teresa came back from the kitchen with a small package and some scissors.

"It's from Stacy." She told him as she sat down next to him.

Jane took the package and scissors form her then opened the box. After pulling the bubble wrap off the top he found his teacup and saucer, which he had left in Colorado in his rush back to California. He grinned.

"I was wondering about that," said Teresa. "Look, there's a note between the cup and saucer."

She turned her attention back to the TV as Jane pulled out the note and began to read.

_Dear Blondie,_

_ I sent this to Teresa's house because I couldn't find an address for you, hope she didn't mind. _

_ Your apartment is up for rent. Good._

_I was browsing the internet the other day and I saw a picture of you and Teresa in front of the California State Capitol building (well, you were kind of in the background, but you were there). Article talked mostly about the case, but I didn't really read it. I just looked at the picture. _

_ I'm assuming that means you got your job back. I don't know how you winged that, I thought there were rules against dating co-workers. And you two better be together by now. If not I will fly out there and smack you both._

_I found your teacup the other day. I actually meant to send it to you months ago, but we got a case and I completely forgot. Anyway, I thought you might like it back. _

_ If it's possible, Jim and I would love to have you and Teresa over for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I know how demanding your jobs can be but it would great to see you again. Let me know either way. I'll understand if you can't. _

_ I hope you found your happiness, Patrick. You deserve it (and so does Teresa). Never let it go. _

_ Tell Teresa "hello" from me. And ask her to call me from time to time when she's not too busy keeping you in line, I liked talking to her. _

_ Let me know about Thanksgiving! It would be great to see you two again. _

_ Best Wishes,_

_ Stacy Anderson_

Jane smiled and folded the latter back up and put it in his pocket. Teresa turned off the TV.

"So what did she say?"

"Well, she invited us to Aspen for Thanksgiving."

"Really?"

"Yep. I think she liked you. She also asked me to tell you to call her sometime when you're not too busy keeping me in line. Her words."

"I'm never going to have time to call her then." Jane laughed. Teresa yawned.

"You should go get some rest," he told her, "It's been a long week."

"Mmm kay. What about you? You had a long week too."

"I have a letter to write. I'll be up in a minute." He brought his hand to her cheek and kissed her softly. "I love you."

Teresa smiled. "I love you too."

He kissed her once more before she got up and started for the stairs. "Why don't you just call her?" She called over her shoulder.

"When someone writes you a letter, you write a letter back."

"You're gonna have to go buy some stamps then."

Jane chuckled as she disappeared from sight. He'd get the stamps tomorrow. He also decided he'd order Stacy some flowers to go along with the letter. Maybe even some chocolates as well. She deserved them.

He found a pen and some paper and began to write.

_Dear Stacy,_

_ Thank you so much for sending me my teacup. I missed it. _

_ Yes, Teresa and I are together. I can't thank you enough for metaphorically hitting me in the head. The gun was a particularly nice touch. And yes, I am definitely happy. Happier than I've been in 10 years._

_ I "winged" getting my job back because I am not an agent. I am a consultant. It doesn't count. _

_ Teresa and I would love to go visit you on Thanksgiving, but like you said our jobs are unpredictable. We will try our best. _

_ I hope you and the rest of the team are doing well. I know I never really said but I truly appreciated you all taking me in the way you did. I had nowhere to go and you gave me a place to be (even if it was only temporary). _

_ I'll make sure to get Teresa to call you sometime. She's upstairs sleeping right now. It's been a long week and she deserves a nice long rest. Maybe I'll turn her alarm clock off to so she'll sleep in. On second thought, if I did she might shoot me. _

_ Anyway, it's getting late now. I think I'm going to head upstairs and turn in for the night as well. _

_ Thanks again, Stacy. For everything._

_ Sincerely, _

_ Patrick Jane_

**Thanks for reading! Review if you wish **

**So I'm making up my own version of NaNoWriMo, I'm going to try to write 50,000 words total, but they are not going to be all in one story most likely. I hope what I write will be good enough to post. It's all going to be fanfiction; I'm not very good at coming up with totally original ideas. I'm going to try to finish Love is Strange this month. I've been neglecting it. **

**Thanks again!**

**~StarGazer**


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